Vacuum cleaner



March 28, Q' D W, CLARK ET AL EQZ VACUUM CLEANER Filed June 1o, 1964 2 Sheets-Sheet l RA www GMW/N BY March 28, i967 D, W, CLARK ET Al. 3,3,28

VACUUM CLEANER Filed June lO, 1964 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 JNV/ENToRs. DON W. CLARK BY RAYMOND S.. GARY/N United States Patent() 3,316,828 VACUUM CLEANER Don W. Clark, Menomonee Falls, Wis., and Raymond S.

Garvin, Muscatine, Iowa, assignors, by mesne assignments, to Direct Sales, Inc., Milwaukee, Wis., a corporation of Wisconsin Filed .lune It), 1964, Ser. No. 373,963 6 Claims. (Cl. 15-328) This invention relates generally to vacuum cleaners of the type for cleaning carpeting, furniture and draperies.

Prior art cleaners may be of tank type wherein a suction tank is separate from the head and is connected thereto by a exible hose; the head is moved along the oor for cleaning carpeting or the like, and this head may be replaced by nozzles or brushes of vario-us sizes and shapes for cleaning furniture, draperies or the like.

Another type of prior art cleaner is the upright type which has a head that contains a fan or blower for picking up foreign matter from the floor and blowing it into an attached bag. This bag has one end attached to the head and through which end the debris is blown. The opposite closed end of the bag is then attached to the handle in any suitable manner.

In accordance with the present invention, an improved vacuum cleaner is provided which can be readily converted from a tank type cleaner to an upright type, utilizing the same head. Furthermore, and importantly, when used as a tank type cleaner, a particularly eicient combination of forces occurs to clean carpeting, for example, with considerably improved cleaning action. The arrangement is such that the head acts to loosen, pick up and blow the debris into the separate tank, while the tank itself acts to suck the debris from the head. Thus the combined blowing action of the head and the suction action of the tank produce a cleaning force many times greater than other prior art cleaners.

In addition, the present invention also provides an upright type cleaner in which the air and debris are handled and deposited in the attached bag in a very eicient manner. More specifically, the air and material pass through a conduit and into the upper end of the attached bag; in this manner the bag is filled in an orderly manner, from the bottom upwardly. As a result, the air is not continually being blown through the accumulated debris in the bag as it is in prior art cleaners which load the attached bag from the bottom. Another more limited aspect of the invention provides that the conduit for conducting the debris out of the blower head and into the bag also forms the handle for the cleaner and to which the bag is attached.

A more limited aspect of the present invention relates to means for quickly attaching the conduit-handle to the head and means for detachably connecting the bag to the handle whereby' the bag can be readily emptied or conversion made from one type of cleaner to the other.

These and other objects and advantages of the present invention will appear hereinafter as this disclosure progresses, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, in which;

FIGURE l is a perspective view of an improved tanktype vacuum cleaner which embodies the present invention;

FIGURE 2 is a side elevational view of an upright type cleaner embodying the present invention,

FIGURE 3 is a side elevational view of the head of the cleaners shown in FIGURES l and 2, but on an enlarged scale and with certain parts being shown as broken away or in section for clarity;

FIGURE 4 is an enlarged, fragmentary, perspective view of the means for detachably securing the conduithandle to the head;

lz Patented Mar. 28, 1967 ICC FIGURE 5 is sectional view taken along line 5 5 in FIGURE 3 but on an enlarged scale; and

FIGURE 6 is a sectional view taken along line 6--6 in FIGURE 2 but on an enlarged scale.

Referring in greater detail to the drawings, the tanktype cleaning apparatus shown in FIGURE 1 includes a tank T which is of conventional nature and has au electric motor driven fan (not shown) for producing a Asuction in the tank and a flexible conduit C which is in communication with the tank.

The handle 1 is of tubular construction and the tubular metal end 2 of the flexible conduit C is simply slid into the upper end of the handle and places it in suction coinrnunication with the tank. Metal end 2 of the flexible conduit is adapted to receive various cleaning nozzles, brushes or other tools as will appear later.

The other end of the hollow handle is detachably connected to a cleaning head I-I, by being slipped into an opening 3 at the rear end of the head and held captive therein by a cam 4. The cam is rotatably mounted by its shaft 5 in the head and a lever 6 is xed to the opposite end of the shaft for rotating the cam between a handle locking position as shown wherein the cam bears against and holds the projection 7 of the handle from being withdrawn from the head, and a handle releasing position (dotted lines in FIGURES 4 and 5), wherein a flat spot on the cam permits the projection to be ywithdrawn past it and out ofthe head.

The head itself comprises a housing 10 having wheels 11, a rotary brush 12 which acts to agitate the carpet to facilitate dirt removal therefrom, and an electric motor 13 for driving the brush through an endless belt 14. A fan 15 is mounted on the motor shaft 16 and driven thereby to forcibly blow the air and dirt rearwardly through passage 17 and into the conduit-handle. Thus the head acts in itself to not only pick up debris but also forcibly move it from the head and through the flexible conduit.

With the above arrangement, both the tank T and the head H act together to move the air and dirt, positively and without hesitation, from the carpeting where it is picked up and into the tank. Forces are thereby employed at each end of the cleaner to act on the material being conveyed.

The above apparatus can also be used for cleaning furniture or draperies simply by removing the metal tube end 2 from the handle and attaching conventional nozzles or other fittings (not shown) to this end, for use with the tank T as a source of suction.

The upright type of cleaner as shown in FIGURE 2 can be converted from the FIGURE 1 device by removing the flexible conduit and its tube end 2 and adding a bag assembly 20 and its connecting flexible conduit 19.

The bag assembly includes an outer cloth bag 21 -which has an opening 22 along its upper side to receive the dispo-sable paper bag 23. Bag 21 has a rod 24 inserted in a fold 25 along each side `of opening 22.

The paper bag 23 is inserted in bag 21 and the end of the flexible conduit is inserted into an opening 26 in the bag 23 and is held therein by a removable clamp 27. The rods 24 are held together and the bag. 21 is held o-n the handle by a U-shaped, spring clip 28 at each end of the rods. The clips snap over the handle and securely embrace it to hold the bag assembly in place.

It will be noted that the air and debris enter the bag at its upper end and the debris is deposited at the bottom of the bag, and the bag lls from the bottom without disturbing the material previously blown into the bag. Other prior art cleaners of the upright type have the inlet at the bottom of the bags and the incoming air and debris are continually blown through the debris already in the bag, resulting in an ineicient and dirty operation.

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The present invention thus provides a tank-type cleaner in which a suction and a blowing action are simultaneously effective to move the air and debris through the conduit. The head can be removed and various nozzles or tools attached for other articles to be cleaned.

The invention also provides an upright type cleaner in which the attached bag is loaded in an eicient manner which reduces the amount of dust blown back into the air through the bag itself.

The bag assembly of the upright cleaner is easily removed by removing the clips and when the conduit 19 is slipped off and thus removed from the handle, the head and handle are ready to be attached to the tank for operation therewith.

Various modes of carrying out the invention are contemplated as being within the scope of the following claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which is regarded as the invention.

What is claimed is:

1. Vacuum cleaning apparatus comprising a portable suction tank, electric motor driven means in said tank for creating a suction pressure therein, a cleaning head adapted to be moved over carpeting to be cleaned, a rigid tubular handle extending generally upwardly from said head and having a quick detachable connection therewith, and in communication with the interior of said head, a eXible conduit detachably connected to and placing the upper end of said handle and consequently said head in communication with sand tank, an electric motor driven blower in said head for picking up dirt from said carpeting and blowing it into and through said handle and conduit and into said tank while suction in said tank simultaneously acts to draw said dirt into said tank, and a bag having a quick detachable connection thereon toremovably attach it to said handle whereby said iiexible conduit can be detached from said tank and alternately connected to said bag when the latter is connected to said handle.

movably attach it to said handle, and a exible conduit detachably connected to and placing the upper end of said tubular handle in communication with the upper end of said bag to deliver dirt blown by said fan from said head and through said handle to said bag at the upper end thereof.

3. A cleaner as deined in claim 2 further characterized in that said quick detachable connection includes clips which slip over and embrace said tubular handle and detachably hold said bag on said handle.

4. A cleaner as defined in claim 2 further characterized in that said handle has a quick detachable connection with said head.

S. A cleaner as dened in claim 2 including a portable suction tank, electric motor driven means in said tank for creating a suction pressure therein, said ilexible conduit being detachable from said bag and connected to said suction tank whereby said cleaner can alternately be used with said tank for picking up dirt from said iioor and blowing it through said handle and conduit and into said tank while the suction in the tank simultaneously acts to draw said dirt into said tank.

6. A cleaner as defined in claim 1 further characterized in that said quick detachable connection includes clips which slip over and embrace said tubular handle and detachably hold said bag on said handle.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,292,963 1/1919 Replogle 15--301 X 1,498,255 6/ 1924 Winchester.

1,914,834 6/1933 Otto 15-377 X 1,962,370 6/1934 Thor 15-351 X 2,175,644 10/1939 Replogle 15-336 2,348,861 5/1944 Smellie 15-377 X 2,394,798 2/1946 McNeal l5-351 2,987,751 6/ 1961 Meyerhoefer 15-327 3,150,405 9/1964 Tissler 15-351 3,200,433 8/1965 Downey 15--328 3,226,758 1/1966 Brown etal 15-350 X FOREIGN PATENTS 851,462 10/ 1960 Great Britain.

v ROBERT W. MICHELL, Primary Examiner.

CHARLES A. WILLMUTH, Assistant- Examiner. 

2. AN UPRIGHT TYPE VACUUM CLEANER COMPRISING A HEAD ADAPTED TO BE MOVED OVER A FLOOR TO BE CLEANED AND HAVING AN ELECTRIC MOTOR DRIVEN FAN THEREIN FOR PICKING UP DIRT FROM SAID FLOOR, A RIGID TUBULAR HANDLE EXTENDING GENERALLY UPWARDLY FROM SAID HEAD AND IN COMMUNICATION WITH THE INTERIOR THEREOF, A BAG ATTACHED TO SAID HANDLE AND EXTENDING GENERALLY UPWARDLY FROM SAID HEAD, THE BAG HAVING A QUICK DETACHABLE CONNECTION THEREON TO REMOVABLY ATTACH IT TO SAID HANDLE, AND A FLEXIBLE CONDUIT DETACHABLY CONNECTED TO AND PLACING THE UPPER END OF SAID TUBULAR HANDLE IN COMMUNICATION WITH THE UPPER END OF SAID BAG TO DELIVER DIRT BLOWN BY SAID FAN FROM SAID HEAD AND THROUGH SAID HANDLE TO SAID BAG AT THE UPPER END THEREOF. 